#witcher victorian au

[mercisnm]

a silly Victorian AU for Yennefer/Tissaia that has been going on in my mind for while now

+ the silly ideas my mind came up with for this AU

+ bonus:

[rvchelking]

—OCS as OBSCURE ASSOCIATIONS, pt. 2

Tagged by the lovely @perpetuagf once again to join this cool oc game! thank you so much <3 would love to introduce my Witcher OC lady Violet de Gris of Creyden.

Tagging @stacispratt <3

ANIMAL: doe; Abyssinian cat

COLORS: beige, pastel green, gold, rose gold

MONTH: july.

SONGS: nobble blood - fleurie feat. tommee profitt; Can't Help Falling in Love feat. brooke - tommee profitt;

NUMBER: 1

PLANTS: water lily, white tulips

SMELLS: strawberry, field flowers

GEMSTONE: diamond

TIME OF DAY: sunrise.

SEASON: summer and spring.

PLACES: open fields, castles, Tournament (medieval)

FOOD: cotton candy, apple in caramel

DRINKS: red wine, sweet apple cider

ELEMENT: earth and air.

ASTROLOGICAL SIGNS: virgo, cancer, pisces

SEASONINGS: mint, melissa.

SKY: soft blue skies, the orangey-red skies during sunrise

WEATHER: sunny, no clouds.

MAGICAL POWER: mind reading.

WEAPONS: her voice and status.

SOCIAL MEDIA. instagram in a modern au.

MAKEUP PRODUCT: a perfume!

CANDY: sweet and sour candy.

METHOD OF LONG DISTANCE TRAVEL: horse riding.

ART STYLE: victorian paintings.

FEAR: losing her family.

MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE: phoenix.

PIECE OF STATIONARY: feather.

THREE EMOJIS: 🎀🐎👑

CELESTIAL BODY: milky way, Betelgeuse!

[rauchendesgnu]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗 (i don't know if you do these sorts of chain-letter things, or if you'd prefer not to, but for my part i do like to know which of their works a given author is especially hype on, so consider this an opportunity to gush!)

hi there! I'm not really a fan of chain letters, but I do support people gushing about each others' (and their own) art. I hope you don't mind if I open this up to anyone who sees this (to anyone who sees this: if you're feeling like showing off your favourite pieces of writing or art or gifsets or music or sculptures or whatever you do, then please do so! I'd love to see everyone's best ofs! @ialwayscomewhenyoucall @al-in-my-head @chaosheadspace I am herewith asking you specifically to show me your favourite fics :D)

These are in no particular order:

A Gentleman's Guide To Dancing Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Geraskier Rating: T Words: 8,433 Why is this a fave: Gay Regency Pining™️and dance lessons Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: Regency Era, Witchers still exist, Slow Burn (ish, with only 8k words)

Insane Twink Takes On Military (or how Lambert learned that Geralt's husband is actually terrifying) Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Geraskier Rating: T Words: 1,068 Why is this a fave: BAMF Jaskier, also intimidation is one of the best skills in DnD and Jaskier rolled a Nat20 in this fic Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: BAMF Jaskier, do I need to say more?

New Perspectives Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Geraskier Rating: T Words: 4,226 Why is this a fave: vaguely Victorian setting, people respecting boundaries, trans character, supportive husband (and friends) Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: trans Jaskier, Arranged Marriage, Historical Fantasy (ish) AU (don't ask me to define the settings my brain comes up with), transphobia (not from Geralt), dysphoria

For A Moment We Are People Fandom: The Magnus Archives Pairing: LonelyEyes Rating: T Words: 3,075 Why is this a fave: Hurt Elias. Also Peter trying to justify falling in love with a horrible man called Elias Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: Illegal Soft LonelyEyes, Peter finds out he doesn't like Elias in pain if it's someone other than him who does the hurting

Five Times Jon Faces His Dysphoria Alone... Fandom: The Magnus Archives Pairing: JonMartin (Teaholding because I think it sounds cute) Rating: T Words: 4,266 Why is this a fave: the trans. also I projected a bit. maybe. and again, supportive partner and friends Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: trans Jonathan Sims, gender dysphoria, comfort

I know it said five fics, but since everything I write concerning trans characters and being trans is kind of very personal and important to me, I'll have to add another of those fics (and feel free to check out the trans fics that I have not listed here)

Questions Of Identity Fandom: The Magnus Archives Pairing: JonMartin (Teaholding) Rating: T Words: 4,496 Why is this a fave: the trans (again, yes). again, projecting and me being angry at ignorant people. supportive partner and friends (do we spot a theme yet?) Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: trans Martin Blackwood, gender dysphoria, comfort, pre-T Martin

I'll have to add another note (sorry): I haven't done so for my earlier work, but my more recent fics all have content warnings about what kind of dysphoria is discussed. If dysphoria in fics is triggering to you, feel free to check the content warnings and take care of yourself <3

Last thing (I promise): feel free to ask me anything about these fics or any other stuff I write and post. I also love recommendations, if you feel like I might enjoy something you've seen or read :D

[nochi-quinn]

candela obscura chapter 1 episode 2: hey entire table what the fuck

still enjoying matt in shirtsleeves

still weird that his wrists are naked

are his sideburns going grey? like under the bulk of his hair

this is a scene that jumped into matt's head fully formed and he has to give all the details

source: been there

auggie!

that's my son!

vexnvax syndrome strikes again

going 'yum' just as charlotte's art pops up: correct

if there's one thing anjali's going to do it's play a hot lady in period clothing

"I've been smoking since I was eight" "then you can find your own smokes"

"sir, ma'am - " "doctor"

mala: the three genders

is "otherwhere" like ffxiv and "anyroad" or is it like. a place.

if there's one thing laura's gonna do it's try to get a magical item out of the GM

thank you, howard

witcher potion

auggie, whose friend turned into an ice ghost not even a month ago: fuck you, werewolves aren't real

arlo: maybe SOME PEOPLE - not me - are just SHY - I'm not tho - and have TROUBLE with PEOPLE - except me, I'm fine

bidet

"let matthew know" snickersnort

"what's my name?"

your name is also matthew

I don't know why "make a sneak" makes me smile but it does

howard just faceplants in the background

the story's too long to tell here but one time a woman brained herself on a hamster cage in petsmart and that's all I could think of with the guard blocking auggie

this voice is very endearing

not weird but WEIRD weird

all this for a loaf of bread?

matt making up names off the top of his head

aha! drugs

oh no

Quite Betrothed

fate dating au

"have you ever seen boiled bacon?" revolting!

"I have moments where new information makes me somewhat uncomfortable" autism mood

"I'm gonna touch it" to "this was a mistake" pipeline

if any of them were gonna succeed this seems like where you would want to succeed

yeah, DEAD SCIENTISTS, HOWARD

howard is now craving bacon

I WAS JOKING

I also enjoy this voice very much

aha. veterans.

he is An Doctor

bottom table is ND as f u c k

channeling patrick loller from tiktok: "if you thank me for my service you have to give me $5"

pocket bacon!

yeah see, $5

"we're not doing Get Help"

and that's just what the couple did to the room!

oh shit it's the fuzz

"our first victorian shit!" robbie what

joke three people in the world will get: you can only poop in the designated areas

the whole table: howard no robbie: HOWARD YES

nose punch go CRUNCH

"HOWARD WENT ROGUE"

howard said acab

what is anjali feeding her dice

robbie do you want to tempt the wrath of the whatever

the secretary's a werewolf

with a very cute accent

"he was a horn player" "I bet he was"

"s e x u a l i n t e r c o u r s e"

howard

"I wanna take his badge" fearne lives

he ran into a doorknob"

"WHY DID YOU TALK"

"stairs is faster" confused me until I remembered some people can actually walk down stairs instead of having to take them one at a time, one foot then the other, while clinging to the rail for dear life

laura

the way my brain autofilled "stayed open during the pandemic"

"is he a tall lanky boy" tailed by slenderman

grumbles in public transportation

everybody gets to punch a cop!

cable car fun fact: I was reading dashiell hammet for the first time and had to google what a broadway car was bc he said it like 90 times in the first three pages

and I'm STILL not sure I got it right

"how do you know I'm OUP" "the everything about you"

"my name is gertrude! I mean ethel!"

"spend all the drives! you won't need them later!"

"steal the man of the cloth's cloth!"

[witcher voice] for your discretion

"if only you knew how I was making my money"

ty for not popping your shoulders out on stream anjali

(I originally said "popping them out" and decided specificity was necessary)

this music is a+

"first name trio" is a good name for a band

disco elysium crossover

"she's having an idea….and it hurts" mood

"SHE DID IT" my crackpot theory is vindicated

that is certainly a way to put it

eddie? eyes emoji?

ashley very quietly reaching for her pencil

bacon plague!

banana spiders

"make sure you bring your hand with you"

c o n s u m e

"I've been working on this really great YA novel" MATTHEW I have already snorted lemonade through my nose once tonight, you can't say shit like that

ARLO

AUGGIE

I love them

why was my only thought AT THE OPERA TONIGHT

"do I recognize her as a TA?" "she's an ex-student" you get how that's worse, right

you have buried the lede slightly arlo

anjali: "I shouldn't curse" matt: who told you that shit

"that's poor people talk"

classism!

arlo

"THAT MAN TOUCHED MY BREAST"

"JEEEEEEEMY GOD"

we never should have given matt buttons

matt you live in LA you're giving them all trauma

kickin buddies

[pounding table] werewolf weREWOLF

that's. not a werewolf.

that's a bloodborne monster

just the panicked yelling dlkfjls

I too yell wordlessly when forced to make decisions

"until it was trying to merge with your body" hate THAT wording

hey matt what the fuck

HEY MATT WHAT THE FUCK

"if I'm still aliVE YOU NERDS HELP ME" bakugocore

"its own viscosity" despise it

hey. hey howard. whatcha doin.

[justin mcelroy voice] DON'T DRILL A HOLE IN YOUR HEAD

DON'T YOU PUN RIGHT NOW

hey robbie what the F U C K

"a gun! :D"

hey. hey arlo. hey arlo whatcha doin

some fullmetal alchemist shit is what

I hate everything about this

laura has just decided all her characters are coloring books now

"this arm doesn't have function anymore" oh mood

"takE IT, ROBBIE"

"you just do. what other choice is there?" hey I don't need this right now

hey howard what the fuck

HOWARD'S HAUNTED

see this is why you don't drill a hole in your head, you get ghosts

[lumosatnight]

Untagged Fest 2022 Favs!

I'm a little late to the party, but I wanted to make a list of some of my fav fics from Untagged Fest 2022 run by the HPFC server. All of the stories were originally published without tags, so it was a WILD ride reading them the first time. You never knew what you were going to get! It was such fun fest to be a part of, and I'm super excited to share my fic as well :D

—

🔒 we begin in the dark by @allalrightagain [Regulus/Peter, T, 3.5k] 🔒 Such a good angsty AU. Regulus and Peter make quite the pair in this. I love how they work together behind the scenes. 'For the greater good' indeed.

“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” — Albus Dumbledore …there are those who would beg to differ.

🔒 The measure of monsters and their men by @bluesundaycake [Remus/Severus, M, 4.6k] 🔒 One of my ABSOLUTE FAVS. The atmosphere, the Victorian Era grime. Such a great detective story featuring Snupin and monsters roaming the streets.

What makes a monster, and what makes a man?

🔒 Where You Belong by @bluestringpudding [Severus Snape, T, 6.1k] 🔒 Creepy, disturbing, may give you nightmares. Would I read it again? HELL YES. In this fic, Severus Snape sees and, yet, doesn't see.

When Severus sees the Marauders acting even more suspiciously than normal, he decides to keep an eye, and a note of what they are up to. But some things are better left unseen.

🔒 Reset to Default by @mugsdontlie [Antonin/Thorfinn, NR, 6.3k] 🔒 The pairing I never knew I needed and now I'm OBSESSED with. Bad boy Rowle is my new aesthetic, as is pining Dolohov.

Hermione obliviates them, then what happens?

🔒 Where the Wild Thyme Grows by Lunatik_Pandora [Sirius Black, M, 7k] 🔒 Detailed world-building, The Witcher vibes, fantastical setting. I'm waiting praying for a sequel!

Everything has its price - the question is whether one is willing to pay it.

🔒 Child's Play by @nanneramma [George/Oliver, M, 1.9k] 🔒 The formatting of this fic is so creative. I feel like I discover something new on every read-through!

A game of Quidditch, and some news.

🔒 Introducing: Dead Poets Society Comedy Club by Halliwell19 [Harry/Ginny, M, 3.6k] 🔒 BEST TWIST! BEST HUMOR!

What happens to Harry when Ginny takes him to the new Comedy Club in Knockturn Alley?

🔒 Undone by @diana-skye [Pansy/Ron, E, 3.1k] 🔒 The smut is HOTTTT. We love a bossy, yet caring, Ron and a Pansy who's a bit of a mess.

Or, perhaps she’s just as evil as before — she looks at him with the same glare, won’t stop insulting his dancing, and doesn’t even apologize when she treads on him with her stiletto — but it’s more that he doesn’t mind. Suddenly she’s less vicious snake, more lightly homicidal kitten. Practically cute.

—

And I can't forget about my fic for the fest! Genderbending galore with Detective Dumbledore getting ensnared in Professor Riddle's web. I had a lot of fun coming up with names 😂

🔒 Wicked Hearts and Calculating Minds by @lumosatnight [Dumbledore/Riddle, T, 5.2k] 🔒

There’s a serial killer on the loose in Magical Britain. Detective Dumbledore is brought in to apprehend them, but she didn’t expect for things to get quite so complicated or for the new DADA professor to be quite so… intriguing. Can she catch the killer in time? Or will she be caught in the process?

—

Read more fest fics in the Untagged Fest 2022 collection on AO3!

[borealwrites]

Six Sentence Sunday

Thank you to @cap-sweet-and-salty-sadness for tagging me!

This is a very late fill for Witcher Trick or Treat and the prompt “forbidden.” It’s a Victorian adjacent AU where Jaskier gets send to the coast as a cure for his melancholia and is placed into the care of one Geralt Morhen.

At this point Geralt has started to wean Jaskier off of the “medicine” he was on (a cocktail of morphine and alcohol,) and the side effects are hitting Jaskier pretty hard. Good thing there’s such a strong man around to help him bathe, huh 😉

It seemed as though he blinked and Geralt was there once again.

“I’ve drawn a hot bath for you, my nightingale. I’ve got you,” Geralt murmured. With careful movements he coaxed Jaskier out of bed, strong arms supporting him when he sagged. “One step at a time, lean on me all you need to,” he encouraged even as he pulled Jaskier closer. It felt so *good£ to be pressed against another person, Jaskier didn’t protest.

It didn’t take long for Geralt to guide him into the bathroom, supporting him the entire way.

Uhhh gonna tag @hoomhum @whispered-story @kueble @luteandsword and anyone else who wants to share their WIP

[chemfreakwriting]

Fanfic-Author Tagging game 2022

Thank you @louveclaviere for inviting me to join this fun! Let's see what I got :D

Rules:

post the top 5 works you're most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular),

your top 4 current WIPs that you're excited to release in the new year,

your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year,

your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year,

and your number 1 favorite line you've written this year!

tagging: @kazuza-art, @moorishflower, @queuest, @softest-punk

Five Works:

Do I even have five works in 2022??? To my surprise, indeed I have!

Dungeons, Dragons and Witchers, a mystery about a missing player in an online DnD game with characters from The Witcher-series. Born out of a binge watch of critical role.

Magic Winter Nights, a Tomarry-romcom about a millionaire and a poor artist getting mistaken for the other in an opulent mountain hotel.

Hannibal the killer whale, my big fic this year. Lots of research about marine life, orcas and the polution of our oceans. Went longer than expected, has beautiful fanart and a spinnoff planned :D

The feral child, my sweet summer child. Most popular fic this year, the people looove Severitus (good taste!).

Kiss, marry, kill, my first ever entry for a fest! Loved writing it, had so much fun that a bonus chapter got written. Minister of magic Tom and Auror Harry. Murderhusband-vibes and Grindeldore cheering from the sidelines.

Four WIPs:

Beloved Enemy - Comming in Q1.Tomarry stranded in a desert and forced to work together

The snake temple- Multiship, Tomarry, Grindeldore and Bartymort with monsterfucking

Fear the kraken - My first try at Our Flag Means Death. Fantasy-AU with Kraken!Ed in an aquarium and caretaker!Stede

La belle epoque - Hannigram with dragons in a victorian setting

Some kind of benevolent alien invsion - With Harry as a spaceship AI and Voldy as black alien goo eating the crew.

Three Improvements:

I finished fics!!! I finished so much fics!

My translation work comes along very nicely. I learned a lot from my betas and I get faster every time.

I manage to construct and follow storyarcs. Sometimes a bit wobly, but there were logical conclusions and satisfactory endings <3

Two Resolutions:

Write diverse. Branch out into difernt fandoms, differnt ships, differnt topics, differnt lenghs of fic.

Keep writing regulary. Set a time of day aside for writing, even if it is only 30 min. Keep sprinting with the discord-server and have fun

One Line:

"Is there anything I can do to convince you of my trustworthiness? I'll take your secret to the grave, but I'd really prefer not to have to do it right away."

[hellinglasses]

WIP GAME

beloved mutual and actual fruit warfare @blackberrywars tagged me on the wip game and here!! are the rules:

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of  how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or  tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have wips

so i did the thing and scavenged through my google docs archives while shaking slightly in anticipation and found several works in various states of progress, spanning several years and fandoms. the only currently active are the two marked in bold letters while subsequent spinoffs in that universe are italicised. and i cannot stress enough how much these wouldn’t be even happening without berry and @girls-and-honey. while not all these are going to see the light of day, i really am full of love for all these ideas and thought it would be nice to include them too, and maybe other folks would think about those blorbos in those situations and feel what i’ve felt too

the witcher

of broken dicks and bangxiety (BERRY IS A SAINT AND HAS GONE ABOVE AND BEYOND WITH IDEAS AND EDITING FOR THIS)

himym theme but played on lute and jaskier screaming

our flag means death

I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW @girls-and-honey IS CO-AUTHORING ALL THIS

izzy and ed are those girls from jennifer's body and stede reunites them through the power of rv

how to have your girlfriend spell out for you the love is stored in the hot TA

ed teach town cryptid

holiday shenanigans for polycules and mamas

the new adventures of pissed off dad izzy

the silmarillion and assorted jirt work

that lilo and stitch au that grew out of my control

fringe but make it second age middle-earth

what happens after the love of your life

clowntown

finding nemo but without fish but actually losing your bother when you’re sleep deprived in a bus station after fighting your whole extended family

this is entirely powered by suzi quatro soundtracks but above all no control, or, bev is dean winchester

eddie kaspbrak gets to be patrick dempsey on made of honor (2008)

victorian losers fuck off to maine working doc

hannibal

discovery investigation documentary

the ahs asylum au

good omens

good omens but it’s stranger things but different

gravity falls

the gravity falls x-men au

i also cannot stress enough that if you’re curious about any of these i’d love love love to go off about it and please feel free to ask about more than one, or multiple if you want, brain is literally sizzling with all the blorbo emotion and the possibility of sharing it

i’m tagging @fist-amidst-the-hands i’m not sure who else would like to play but this is absolutely an open invitation

[blackberrywars]

for the berry ask meme!~ 🍑 🍍 🍇

Hello my friend!! Thank you so much for playing, sorry it took so long!

🍑 is answered over here (it is long, do be warned)

🍍 What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

Ooooh alright. I've got a list for each, but take all with a grain of salt, because I will read almost any AU if it's executed well.

Liked AUs:

Genderbending (tis my brand)

Western/Samurai AUs (separate or together)

Omegaverse (the genderfuckery, angst, and porn potential is A+)

Hanahaki (something about being literally choked by your own repression)

Trucker AUs (they're rare, but they work so well, especially for witchers)

Kitchen/Bakery AUs (the chaos is just very good —my special love for the Waffle House variety)

Mythology AUs (these are usually Greek, but honestly? They're just so interesting sometimes, and I get a new rabbithole to fall down)

Disliked AUs:

Royalty AUs (just not my taste, they often take a lot of worldbuilding to execute well, and not everyone does it)

High School AUs (I didn't even like these when I was in high school)

Victorian/Regency AUs (it's never been my thing, and some people just do not research it at all)

Soulmates (I have been known to read them, but I often get bored pretty quickly)

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

Quite honestly? Nope. The Witcher canon is such an amalgamation of scenes, characters, and lore, that there isn't really a moment that I want to really really really write fics about. I mostly just take little scraps of lore and dialogue to fashion into a fic.

[mercisnm]

Another odd page for the AU, this time: they started the race as respectable Victorian ladies with proper headwear, only for the top hats to get knocked off half way through their little contest. Low tree branches to blame. Neither wasted a second to retrieve the poor hats.

[rauchendesgnu]

WIPs! (ask me about them)

tagged by @echo-bleu

the game is: post the names of the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title of what most intrigued them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it. if you want, tag as many people as you have wips.

So... only witcher wips here, my friends:

Brían & Eredin D/s (Part Two)

Geraskier Smol Geralt Kidfic

Slavery Noble AU

For A Drop Of Blood

Of Cats And Wolves

Forced/Arranged Marriage Fae Geralt

Pretty Woman AU

Victorian Writer AU

Wrath And Sunrise Geraskier AU

A Blessing For The Damned

Toxicology (TWFF #73) (SAW Bingo Fill: Unreliable Narrator)

assassin!Jaskier

Das Duell (Schandmaul)

Muse Geralt Part Two

Geraskier modern D/s

Prompt: Jealousy

pregnant boi I'm so sorry

victorian apology

Warlord Jaskier and Tribute Geralt

Radskier One (Post Canon)

The Man Who Ruled The World

I tag (for those who feel like it): @al-in-my-head, @xianvar, @ialwayscomewhenyoucall, @starrschaos, @flightsfancy1

[yuko27]

Wanted to colorized it quicker but smth got wrong.

I’m not that good at Victorian decor and fashion -)

[bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher]

When the Sun Goes Down

This story is a heavily edited adaptation of “Gabriel-Ernest”, written by H.H. Munro in 1909. I owe this whole story to @tinyplaidninjas​ (thank you for helping me fix my werewolf story dilemma).

This is almost 3k words long, fair warning

tw: kinda horny, nudity

---

"There is a wild beast in your woods," said Lambert, as the two men were being driven to the station. It was the only remark he’d made during the drive, but since Geralt had talked incessantly about his latest publication in the Kaedwen Journal of Medicine, his half-brother’s silence had not been noticeable.

"A stray fox or two, or perhaps some wandering brownies. Nothing more formidable," said Geralt. His brother said nothing.

---

"What did you mean about a wild beast?" Geralt asked later, when they were on the train platform with their bags and tickets in hand. Geralt was bound for his private woodland estate while Lambert was making his way into town to visit with friends. 

"Nothing. Probably just my wild imagination running away with me again. Here comes the train," Lambert rushed. 

Geralt found it odd, but said nothing. Perhaps he should not have gone on at length about the Medical Journal in the carriage. Perhaps Lambert was tired or overanxious about his meeting with Aiden. It had been years since the two college friends had seen each other in person and Geralt knew that his brother held the other, equally brilliant artist in high esteem. Surely, that was the reason for Lambert’s odd dismissal of his questions.

---

Once he’d returned to his estate and unpacked his bags, Geralt decided to take a stroll through the woods. He often took a leisurely walk in the late afternoon; the trees were full of chittering animals and preening birds this time of day, after all. The natural scientist and medical doctor found the great outdoors to be brimming with new discoveries. He wanted to pick everything apart and reassemble it accurately and down to the last minute detail. He wanted to know why certain animals behaved the way they did and how they communicated with each other. He wanted to know why the little white flowering plants in his yard only bloomed every other day. He craved the answer to the universal question of why as it applied to everything.

The doctor would often spend long afternoons sitting absolutely still in the center of his garden, observing the wildlife as it moved around him. Last summer he’d even managed to get a wild rabbit to eat out of his hand. 

Now, though, the forest path seemed uncomfortably quiet. Had a larger predator taken to wandering his grounds? If so, he’d need to send word to a local hunter’s lodge and request assistance in ridding himself of the pest. As he was debating who to inquire after, he came across an unusual sight.

On a shelf of smooth stone overhanging a deep pool just to the side of the path, a boy of eighteen lay asprawl. He was drying his tan, dripping limbs luxuriously in the light of the late-summer sun and he had very few cares about doing so, according to his state of complete undress. His wet brown hair, (disheveled as it was by a recent mussing with his long, slender fingers) and bright blue eyes, so light that there was an almost cat-like gleam to them, were aimed in Geralt’s direction with a sense of lazy watchfulness. 

He was an unexpected although not unwelcome apparition, and Geralt found himself quite ignoring his eldest brother’s good advice of “thinking before one spoke”. He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest in what he hoped was a stance of great authority. 

"What are you doing on my property?" he demanded. “And have you no shame? Trespassing for a cool dip in the water I could forgive, but you don’t even have the proper clothing to do so.”

"Obviously I came here to have a swim and sun myself," replied the boy. “I rather like how it feels to be bare beneath the warmth of the open sky.”

"Where do you live?" Geralt inquired, stepping closer. Every instinct in his body was telling him to run. To flee this place and the presence of his estate’s mysterious visitor.

"Here and there within these woods."

"You can't live in the woods," Geralt frowned. “It’s not proper.”

"They are very nice woods," said the boy. To Geralt his tone sounded almost patronizing. Borderline condescending. The doctor bristled and stepped forward again. 

“You can’t possibly be surviving out here like this!”

“I am rather proficient at fending for myself.”

"Then where do you sleep at night?"

"I don't sleep at night,” the boy winked one of his cornflower eyes. The movement had Geralt’s head reeling and his heart thundering within the confines of his waistcoat. “That's my busiest time, dear heart."

"What do you eat?" the young professor and doctor finally asked. It felt as if that question had been on the tip of his tongue since he’d seen the strange creature come into view and only now did he have the adequate terror in his veins to ask it. 

"Flesh," said the boy. He said the word slowly and carefully, almost as if he was running his tongue along every later to catch their flavor.

“What a horrible thing to say.”

“Hmm, it is the truth,” the slender youth rolled onto his back and tilted his head over the stony ledge. His mop of chestnut hair dangled down towards the water and he gazed steadily at the doctor from upside down, “I am plenty good at catching hares and birds and mice and men. I am not picky, you see. I gobble them all up.”

Geralt nearly choked on his tongue. His face flushed and his cheeks grew hot with indignance (and perhaps something else, a stirring in his belly that he quietly ignored). The audacity of such a creature! Such open and frank fliration was unheard of, especially since he was so indecorously nude!

"I can’t imagine you’re eating well. The rabbits on my estate have never been easy to trap or catch or corner. Not even my father’s best games keeper could do it, and that man lived on the property for nearly sixty years.”

"It is easier for me to hunt them than it is for your game keeper to trap them, Dr. Bellegarde,” the boy winked again. The sound of his name in the stranger’s mouth had Geralt mildly panicked. Did he know this improper young villain? Had he forgotten the boy’s name? Had the lad followed him back from university? The strange young man added another cryptic statement, “At night I hunt on four feet. It’s faster that way.”

"I suppose you’re referring to a dog?" Geralt offered. “And wouldn’t that be considered poaching, you hunting on my lands at night with your hound?”

The boy laughed a weird, low laugh; it was pleasantly like a chuckle and disagreeably like a snarl. Both portions of the sound had Geralt’s heart racing even faster in his chest. It felt nearly as painful as he’d expected from cardiac distress and he breathed evenly like he’d been taught to do under such duress. Slowly, the panicked feeling faded away and he gazed back at his trespasser with narrowed eyes. “Why are you laughing, then?”

"I don't think any dog would be very anxious for my company, especially not at night. We wouldn’t get along with each other, me and a dog.”

Geralt began to suspect (with a deep and primal sense of ever growing dread) that there was something odd and uncanny about the strange-eyed, silver-tongued youth lounging above the pond. He uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his hips, “Well you can’t keep sleeping in the woods.”

“I fancy you’d rather not have me in your house.”

The prospect of this wild, naked animal loose in the professor’s neatly ordered and well-kept manor was certainly an alarming one. Geralt glared and shook his head, dislodging some of his long white hair from its ribbon. 

"If you don't go then I shall have to make you.”

The boy flipped onto his front in a flash and plunged into the pool. In the span of a moment he had crossed the short expanse of water and flung his glistening body half-way up the bank where Geralt was standing. For an otter the movement would not have been remarkable; for a boy it was sufficiently startling. Geralt’s leather-booted foot slipped as he jerked backwards involuntarily. After his arms windmilled for a moment and his balance failed him, the young doctor found himself almost prostrate on the slippery weed-grown shore of the pond with those cat-like blue eyes mere inches from his own. 

He raised a hand to his throat instinctively and the boy laughed again; a laugh in which the snarl had nearly driven out the chuckle entirely. Then, with another of his astonishing lightning movements, the naked youth plunged out of view into a yielding tangle of weed and fern.

"What an extraordinarily wild animal!" said Geralt as he picked himself up. Then he recalled Lambert’s remark on the train station’s waiting platform: "There is a wild beast in your woods."

As he meandered his way back towards the manor proper, Dr. Bellegarde began to turn over in his mind some of the various local occurrences which might be traceable to the existence of his astonishing young savage.

According to the local paper, gathered the day previous by his valet, something had been thinning the game in the woods lately. Poultry had gone missing from several neighboring farms and factories, hares and rabbits were growing unaccountably scarcer, and complaints had reached the local constabulary of lambs being carried out of their pastures in the hills. Could it be possible that this wild boy was really hunting the countryside with a pack of obedient hounds? 

The oddly pretty creature had spoken of hunting "four-footed" by night, but then, again, he had hinted strangely at no dog caring to come near him, "especially at night." It was certainly puzzling. 

And then, as Geralt was running his mind over the various odd occurrences he’d heard reported from the village in the past few months, he came suddenly to a dead stop. The young man that had gone missing from the milling town upriver two months ago--the accepted theory was that he had tumbled into the millwheel and been swept away; but the boy’s mother had insisted that merely run away with some village girl (who had also disappeared). 

He thought of the village youngster, who’d been applying to attend Oxenfurt at the time of his mysterious yet apparent death. Perhaps they were one in the same; but then, why in all the world, would a college hopeful by lying naked in the woods outside Dr. Bellegarde’s lonesome manor house? It was odd. Very odd.

"Where's your voice gone to, Doctor?" asked his housekeeper, Ms. Merrigold. "One would think you had seen a wolf on your walk."

At breakfast next morning, Geralt was overwhelmingly conscious that his feeling of uneasiness regarding yesterday's episode with the boy had not wholly disappeared. He had decided to go into the village and talk with Lambert about the “beast in his woods” and learn what his brother had really seen that had made him so twitchy. With his day planned and his mind slightly more settled, his usual cheerfulness partially returned. The doctor hummed a bright little melody as he sauntered to the morning-room for his customary cup of tea with Ms. Merrigold. 

As Geralt entered the morning-room and scanned the familiar space his humming made way abruptly for a quietly shouted curse. Gracefully laid out atop his red velvet settee, in an attitude of almost exaggerated repose, was the boy from the woods. He was drier than when the doctor had last seen him, but still he remained entirely naked. Every inch of his lovely, soft-looking skin was on display; Geralt averted his eyes as quickly as possible and tried to hide his blushing face from the grinning minx.

"How dare you come in here like this!” he huffed.

"You told me I was not allowed to stay in the woods," said the boy calmly. He propped his elbow up on the cushion and laid his cheek against his palm, languidly stretching his legs out at the same time. The doctor breathed deeply and kept his eyes firmly locked with the strange young man’s. 

"I did not invite you to come here!"

“Then I have misunderstood,” the boy sighed. The hand that had been supporting his head moved down and flattened against the settee. His arm straightened and his torso lengthened with the movement. Now sitting with one knee resting slightly bent atop the other, his hair messy and his shockingly blue eyes half-lidded, he looked like the painting of a young Cupid. 

“Triss!” Geralt called, desperate for another person to intervene on his behalf. To save him from this tempting little beast. “Triss, fetch one of the pantry boys. We have a guest and he’s...he’s quite out of sorts.”

“Yes, Dr. Bellegarde,” his housekeeper called back. “Right away, sir!”

The boy giggled from the couch and Geralt whirled back to look at him. His finger was playing gently with the plumpest part of his lip and the young professor found himself flushing yet again. “Yes, Dr. Bellegard. Hurry to cover me up right away.” 

---

Lambert was less than helpful when Geralt first asked about the beastly reference he’d made at the station.

"My dear father died of some brain trouble," he explained, "So you will understand why I am averse to dwelling on anything of an impossibly fantastic nature that I may see or think that I have seen. I don’t even know that I saw anything, you understand?”

"I am a medical doctor, Lambert, of course I understand. But what did you see?" Geralt inquired. “I must know.”

"What I thought I saw was something so extraordinary that no really sane man could dignify it with the credit of having actually happened. I was standing at the end of the lane near your manor property, half-hidden in the hedge growth by the orchard gate. I’d been watching the dying glow of the sunset and committing to memory for use in a future painting. Nothing extraordinary, of course, but beautiful nonetheless. 

“It was then that I became aware of a naked boy. I assumed that he was a bather from some neighboring pool who was standing out on the bare hillside, also taking a moment to watch and appreciate the sunset. His pose was so suggestive of some wild faun of Pagan myth that I instantly wanted to engage him as a model, and in another moment I think I should have hailed him over to my hiding spot to discuss such a matter. Just then, however, the sun was lost over the edge of the horizon and the last of its warm orange glow slid away. The landscape was left a cold and gloomy grey.”

“And what of the boy? Your language is poetic, Lambert, but I’ve grown rather impatient!”

“The boy was gone, Geralt!”

"What? Did he simply vanish into nothing like some ghost or phantom?"

"No; that’s the most terrifying part, you see," answered the artist; "That’s the whole reason I didn’t want to tell you about this problem in the first place. Geralt, my dearest brother, on the open hillside where my momentary muse had been standing a second before, there was a wolf instead. It had shaggy brown-black fur and huge, gleaming fangs. Most terrifying of all were its huge, bright blue eyes.”

Geralt’s mind whirled with the new information. Lambert had indeed given him the details he’d so desperately needed to draw his final, strange conclusion: the boy was a werewolf! He thanked his younger half-sibling and made his departure, hurrying back to the manor as quickly as possible.

He had to make it home before dark.

---

“The moon isn’t full tonight,” the boy sighed. Triss had managed to wrestle him into a clean shirt and a pair of cropped blue breeches but despite the clothing he still seemed to ooze a sense of easy, naked confidence. The slim brunette was draped across the chaise lounge of Geralt’s personal study, his bare feet hanging over the arm. 

“So?”

“So I will not transform into the horrible monster you fear I shall become,” he sighed again. He rolled his eyes in Geralt’s direction and smirked. “You and your housekeeper are safe. As is your cook, your pageboy, your valet, and your terribly friendly mare. Roach, right?”

“Hmm. You’ve been through my things?”

“Triss allowed me to wander the house and the grounds but then she forced me to bathe again when I came back in,” he frowned. “Soap does not agree with me and neither do these prickly, constricting clothes.”

“And your name?” Geralt asked, finally. “Since you have proven to know me already.”

“You may call me Jaskier,” the boy said, popping up from the couch. He offered his hand, which Geralt shook rather nervously. “And I’ve already decided that I’m going to be staying for awhile.”

“Why should I allow you to stay?” the young doctor bristled. “What have you to offer me in return for room and board?”

“I have no money, but I’m a wonderful gardener and I’m sure that there are, Dr. Bellegarde, other ways we can pass the time together. I sense that we are kindred spirits in many ways.”

Geralt blushed and swallowed hard, blinking down at the boy, whose fingers were playing with the material of the doctor’s cravat. His blue eyes peeked up through their bordering black lashes and Geralt’s will crumbled to dust. “Alright. I suppose you can stay; if it keeps the village safe.”

“Very safe,” the werewolf, Jaskier, smiled. His delicate little paw with its long, lithe fingers spread over the material of Geralt’s silk waistcoat, right over his heart. “So very safe, indeed.”

[dapandapod]

20 with geraskier but Victorian au and they're meeting in front of jaskier's parents

20. formal hug

YES Darling Jjay, you are absolutely right!! I have greatly enjoyed writing this, and a sincere thank you and sorry to my lovely @kuripon for helpig me beta read this, it was so very much needed <3

Please enjoy my very self idulgent way to get a formal hug!

Send me a hug prompt?

On Ao3 Hug collection here

They are not supposed to know each other like they do.

They are not supposed to have spent time together out of sight of a chaperone.

They are barely supposed to know each other.

But in their childhood, they have spent many nights running away from formal gatherings, birthday parties, anywhere with a crowd where they can escape unnoticed, as only children can. In their teen years, they were supposed to avoid each other at the gentlemen's clubs, racing events, and even in school.

New money and old money don’t mix well, Vesemir likes to say. And Jaskier’s father is of the opinion that his boy can do better than the social circles that Geralt comes from.

Despite it all, they became close friends. Now, as young adults and with marriages waiting for them at the end of the year, they spend as much time together as they possibly can get away with.

Which is not much, but Geralt enjoys listening to Jaskier strum the lute, and Jaskier is always suitably impressed with Geralt’s skill with a sword. Having a family consisting of mostly military officers will set certain expectations for you.

Geralt doesn’t want to get married.

Well, he does, but he doesn’t want what Vesemir and Tissaia are planning for him; a cold, loveless relationship. He wants what Jaskier is talking about. Friendship, at the very least, and respect, but he wants the spark too.

He knows he is greedy, but looking at Jaskier, he senses that spark, and he wants it. Wants it so much it hurts.

Today is the big day. Geralt is a strange mix of worried and excited for getting introduced to his parents' chosen one.

On one hand, that spark he feels when Jaskier is around is what he wants, craves, longs for. On the other hand, the promise to have someone at his side, and hopefully find affection for, for the rest of his time is appealing. Very appealing.

There has been lots of time spent with the Vengerberg family. The young lady Yennefer’s name is on everybody's lips, and she and Geralt have been getting along well on the outings. Her guardian, Regis Terzieff-Godefroy, has been encouraging the match. And Geralt wouldn't… mind, per say.

It just isn’t Jaskier.

They sit in stiff silence, the carriage pulled by Geralt’s two favorite horses, Roach and Pegasus. The neck of his collar feels too tight, and the top hat that Tissaia insists he wears rests on the seat next to him.

“Nervous, my boy?” Vesemir asks when Geralt can’t stop fidgeting with his sleeves. A habit he picked up from Tissaia, who always keeps everything neat and tidy.

“I just don’t understand why you won’t tell me who you picked.”

“Come now, Geralt, if we told you, you would have told Lambert, and then the entire town would have known,” Tissaia chastises.

Geralt pouts, but he knows she is right. It is a wonder, really, that his family doesn’t know how much Geralt and Jaskier have been seeing each other, considering Lambert has been his go-to cover. Maybe it is because Lambert has been using the same cover to go meet his Aiden.

The rest of the ride is silent, until Geralt recognizes his surroundings.

They are closing in on the Lettenhove estate. He tries not to let his surprise and excitement show but he can’t help to sit a little straighter. Out of the corner of his eye, Tissaia smirks.

The carriage comes to a stop, and outside the doors stands the entire Lettenhove family, Jaskier and his three younger sisters, his mother, (who has looked away more than once when Jaskier has snuck away), and his father, looking rather constipated.

“What…?” Geralt asks faintly, hope and nerves and confusion and a tinge of fear at being found out mixes in his chest, collides, fractures, builds. “I thought I was going to meet…”

“You are.” Vesemir smiles.

They can’t mean one of Jaskier’s sisters. Geralt doesn’t know what to do. He knows he is supposed to get out, to help Tissaia out, to spout pleasantries, to act as if he is just now making their acquaintance, as is proper.

It takes all his self-restraint not to just rush forward and pull Jaskier into his arms. All of it.

He helps Tissaia down, he gets properly introduced, as if they haven’t spent years in each other's company already, and he greets all of Jaskier’s little sisters with gentle smiles.

Their two families join in a stroll around the gardens, deliberately letting Geralt and Jaskier walk a little ahead of the others.

“Is this… do they really mean to have us engaged?” Geralt finally dares to ask.

“I think so. I must confess, Geralt, I might have been pestering my father about it.”

Everything in Geralt tingles, that spark exploding in a way that he feels all the way out in his fingertips. It translates to one word.

“Oh.”

Jaskier laughs, as if he has been holding a tense breath for a long time.

“Oh good, or Oh bad?” Jaskier asks, his mouth is smiling but his eyes are worried.

“Good,” Geralt breathes. “Definitely good.”

Jaskier’s smile is bright, warm, and Geralt can’t help but to reach out and link their arms together.

The small connection feels incredible as Jaskier’s hand tracing little patterns on Geralt’s arm, out of sight from their families.

As they part, Jaskier pulls him into a careful hug. A proper, formal one, holding back and hiding everything that is between them. Geralt can’t look away, can’t stop looking behind them long after the carriage has brought them far out of sight from the Lettenhove estate.

“I thought you had made arrangements with Lady Vengerberg,” Geralt says finally, looking at the couple in front of him.

“Not all connections are made for politics, my boy,” Vesemir says, smiling, taking Tissaia’s hand.

“Yennefer expressed a wish to pursue her studies,.” Tissaia says, smiling back at Vesemir as he brings up her hand to his lips and kisses it. “The Lettenhoves are not a bad match. And it helps that you seem to have a certain... connection to the young lord already.”

Geralt feels himself blush, and he looks out the window.

It would seem he’ll get his spark after all.

[mindmypensieve]

yennaia + dark victorian gothic au

yennaia moodboard challenge